Placental abnormalities ‘could indicate heightened autism risk’

Researchers at the Yale School of Medicine have discovered that abnormalities in the placenta at birth could provide an indication of an infant's risk of developing autism later in life.

The team found that abnormal placental folds and cell growths called trophoblast inclusions could be key markers to identify newborns who are more likely to develop autism, based on a study of 117 placentas from infants of at-risk families and 100 control specimens.

It was found that the at-risk placentas had as many as 15 trophoblast inclusions, whereas none of the control placentas had more than two.

As such, a placenta with four or more of these cell growths suggests that the infant in question has a 96.7 percent chance of being at risk for autism.

Senior author Dr Harvey Kliman, a research scientist at the Yale School of Medicine, said: "I hope that diagnosing the risk of developing autism by examining the placenta at birth will become routine and that the children who are shown to have increased numbers of trophoblast inclusions will have early interventions."

In England, it is estimated that one in every 100 children has an autistic spectrum disorder, with boys being more likely to be affected than girls.